Tongue Tied!

As bizarre premises go, it's going to take a lot to beat Tongue Tied! from Mojo Bones. The stars of this physics-endowed platform romp are two adorable cartoon dogs named Mick and Ralph, whose tongues have, through some unexplained and unfortunate accident, become entangled.

The sprightly pair don't let this get them down, though, and rather than seeking immediate medical attention they set out on a mildly disturbing adventure in search of golden bones, ham shanks, and sausages.

In spite of its strangeness, Tongue Tied! still manages to be a charming, engaging, and challenging 2D platform title.

The game takes place in a beautiful cartoon world, with the character design reminiscent of the glory days of Hanna-Barbera. You control the canine duo using a mixture of catapult shots, swings, and jumps.

Pull back on one of the dogs and when you let go the pair of them will catapult off in the opposite direction. Single-tapping drops one of the dogs down, leaving him lolling hilariously at the end of the knotted appendage.

Keeping your finger pushed down on a dangling dog lets you sweep up any of the bones and other collectibles that are hanging around under the scenery. It's a neat, clever use of touchscreen controls, once you get past the slightly uncomfortable fact you're stretching out two dogs' tongues.

The game is split into fifty cleverly designed levels, and introduces new hazards and challenges as you play. Dynamite explodes if you touch it, hot coals burn your paws, and yawning chasms await the unwary.

There are plenty of control combinations to remember, which means that - although the levels are pretty small - there's more than enough time to get spectacularly flustered and catapult Ralph, Mick, or both of them to an untimely death.

You can pull off tricks to gain extra points, flipping the dogs, smashing them into bags, or performing quick-tapping doggie hops, and there are combos to win by collecting lots of bones in a single, fluid swoop.

A cheeky, irreverent sense of humour runs throughout Tongue Tied!, which helps to pull you in to its madcap world. It's fluid, gorgeous, and walks you through its big ideas gently before dropping you into the deep end.

It's clever, too, and the physics engine underneath purrs along nicely. You never feel cheated when you plunge to a dual-doggy death - just determined to try harder next time. Collecting all the bones in a level is a fiendish experience, but there's plenty for the casual gamer to sink his teeth into as well.

Yes, it may be about two animals that have become intrinsically linked in a rather unpleasant way. And yes, it borrows a lot of its ideas from other titles on the App Store, but Tongue Tied! does everything with such aplomb that it's an impossible game not to like.

We only hope PETA doesn't find out about it.

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